Stephen Champlin's Postwar Career-- Part 1

After his capture, the British paroled him figuring that his wounds would be mortal.  He went back home to Connecticut where he recovered from the wounds.  On March 28, 1815, he was ordered to join Perry's fleet which was heading to the Mediterranean to battle the Barbary Pirates off the coast of Algeria and Tunisia.

In the fall of 1815, in consideration of his wounds, he was ordered to  to return to Erie in the spring of 1816. There he underwent a difficult operation to remove the many splinters of shattered bone that remained in his leg.

From 1816-1818, he commanded the USS  Porcupine surveying the Canadian-American border along the upper Great Lakes.  Upon his return to Erie, he was beached in a strong gale at Buffalo.  During his enforced stay in Buffalo, he met and courted Minerva  Lydia Pomeroy whom he married there  on January 9, 1817.

She was a Buffalo socialite of the city. She and Stephen had eight children.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 3: Long Service In U.S. Navy

In 1816, as commander of the USS Porcupine, he participated in the mapping of the United States-Canadian boundary under  the Treaty of Ghent.

He continued to serve in the U.S. Navy until 1855, when he retired to its reserves.  In 1862, he was promoted to the rank of commodore.

Throughout the rest of his life he suffered greatly from his 1814 wound.  He married and fathered six children in Buffalo, New York,  where he died 20 February 1870 and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in that city.

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 2: Battle of the Thames and Mackinac Island

After the Battle of Lake Erie, the Americans took advantage of their new superiority captured Fort Malden and Detroit.  The Tigress, Scorpion and Porcupine, under command of Lt. Jesse Elliott went up the Thames River to support U.S. troops under General William Henry Harrison and the victory at the Battle of the Thames in which Indian warrior chief Tecumseh was killed.

Then the Tigress was sent to Lake Huron where it blockaded the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, the sole supply source for the British garrison on Mackinac Island.  By early September, the situation for the British on the island was dire.  Something had to be done.

It was under the command of Stephen Champlin.

Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 4: Again Commanded the USS Porcupine

In 1816, he again commanded the USS Porcupine and participated in the mapping of the United States-Canada border under the Treaty of Ghent.

He served in the U.S. Navy until 1855, when he retired from service.  In 1862, he was promoted to the rank of commodore on the retired list.

The rest of his life he suffered tremendously from the wound he received in 1814.

He died 20 February 1870.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 1: Commanded USS Scorpion at Battle of Lake Erie

From Wikipedia.

17 November 1789 to February 1870.

U.S. Naval officer in the War of 1812.  Born in Kingston, Rhode Island, and entered the U.S. Navy as a sailing master 22 May 1812.  Commanded the schooner USS Porcupine at the Battle of Lake Erie and captured the British ship HMS Little Belt.

He was later wounded when the Scorpion was taken on Lake Huron.  (The Scorpion was not the ship he was wounded on, it was the the USS Tigress.)

Retired from the Navy in 1855 and was later promoted to the rank of commodore on the Retired List.

Died at Buffalo, New York and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

Two ships in the Navy have been named for him.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy Ships at the Battle of Lake Erie-- Part 2: Long Guns and Carronades

Name--   classification---  armament--   fate

Long guns are regular cannons and good for long range firing.

CALEDONIA--  brig--   2 long guns, 1 carronade--  1830 either sank or was dismantled

NIAGARA--  brig--  2 long guns, 18 carronade--  present day used as a sailing school.  (Original ship?)

SOMERS--   schooner--   1 long gun, 1 carronade--   unknown

PORCUPINE--   schooner--  1 long gun--    1873 beached

TIGRESS--   schooner--  1 long gun--  1815 sunk

TRIPPE--  sloop--   1 long gun--  1813 burnt by British

Totals:  9 ships--  15 long guns, 39 carronades

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy Ships At the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813

From the National Park Service.

Sunce I have been writing about the USS Porcupine, these were the U.S. ships at the battle:

Name--  classification--  armament--  fate

SCORPION---  schooner---  1 long gun, 1 carronade---  Broken up 1831

ARIEL---  schooner---  4 long guns---  unknown

LAWRENCE---  brig--  2 long guns, 18 carronades--=  1876 burnt in a fire

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine-- Part 4: Sank and Raised

The Porcupine/Caroline made one last sail into Spring Lake, Michigan, where it was abandoned in 1843.  Soon after that it sank at the foot of 4th Street near the Johnston Brothers Boiler Works.

It was raised in 1901 by Charles G. Butthouse of Ferrysburg.  There is a photo accompanying the article captioned "Remains of 'Porcupine' In the Yard of Mr. Bolthouse, Ferrysburg, Mich."  So, it appears there has been a misprint on his name.

Pieces of the Porcupine were sent to Detroit and Put-In-Bay for the centennial of the Battle of Lake Erie.  Other pieces ended up in museums in Grand Rapids, Grand Haven and Lansing, Michigan.

--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine-- Part 3: U.S. Coastal Survey and Revenue Cutter Service

From the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association.

In 1816, the Porcupine was commissioned as a survey vessel in the newly formed United States Coastal Survey Office, and worked the border between the United States and Canada under the command of War of 1812 hero Stephen Champlin (he commanded the USS Scorpion at the Battle of Lake Erie)..  In 1819, it entered the United States Revenue Cutter Service.

In 1825 it was sold by the government and five years later renamed the Caroline.  It had several owners over the rest of its career, including Ferry & Sons of Grand Haven, Michigan, and was used extensively in the lumber trade until she became unseaworthy.

--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine-- Part 2: More Service Afterwards

The USS Porcupine was anchored at the head of the Niagara River 12 August 1814, along with the USS Ohio and USS Somers, when they were attacked by 6 or 8 boats manned with English seamen and Canadian militia.  The other two were captured, but the Porcupine escaped.

It remained in Lake Erie providing transportation and support William Henry Harrison's army at the battle to recover Detroit and the Battle of the Thames.  It was still commanded by George Senat when it transported supplies to Harrison's Army to the north of the Thames and went up the Thames to provide artillery and logistics support.

It was laid up in Erie, Pennsylvania, until 1819, when it was refitted and turned over to the Collector of Revenue at Detroit 2 June.

Returned to the Navy 2 August 1821, it remained inactive until sold 8 August 1825.  Afterwards it served as a cargo vessel on the Great Lakes until it was determined to be unseaworthy and beached on the sand at Spring Lake near Grand Haven, Michigan.

--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine-- Part 1: At the Battle of Lake Erie

From Wikipedia.

60 tons, 60 feet length, 25 crew.  Mounted one 32-pdr and later two 12-pdrs.

Launched May 1813 and commissioned spring 1813.  Allowed to sink in Spring Lake at Ferrysburg, Michigan, in 1873.

It was a gunboat schooner built by the famed Adam and Noah Brown shipbuilders at Presque Isle, Pa (by Erie, Pa.)  an was a part of Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie.

At the battle, Acting master George Senat was in command of it on 10 September 1813.

After the battle, the Porcupine was used as a hospital ship for wounded and captured British sailors.

--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine Project-- Part 3: The Original Fought At the Battle of Lake Erie

The 7,800 pound keel was welded to the Porcupine's hull last year.  Shipwrights have changed the shape of the Porcupine's bow, stern and transom, installed a rudder and have raised the free board, giving the ship more height above the waterline as well as additional internal room and more deck space than the original USS Porcupine.

The first USS Porcupine was built under the direction of Daniel Dobbins in the spring of 1813 near the foot of present-day Sassafras Street.  It fought at the Battle of Lake Erie that year near Put-In-Bay, Ohio in September 1813.

Keith and Kathy Palmerton donated the Porcupine's 40-foot fiberglass hull in September 2014 after learning about the Maritime Center and its work with inner city and underserved children.

Always Like It When a Historic Ship Is Rebuilt.  --Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine Receives $100,000 Donation-- Part 2

The Maritime Center has raised $400,000 of the estimated $810,000 cost of the Porcupine.  Larson has been making math textbooks from 6th grade to college calculus for nearly four decades and currently provides books for around five million students.

The Porcupine's primary function will be to serve as a floating classroom offering half-day or full-day sails for school children.  There will also be overnight programs, public sails, private charters and special programming.  I imagine it will also participate in tall ships reviews.

The new one is twin-masted, 43 feet long on deck with a 15 foot 2 inch beam.  The overall length from bowsprit to the stern is 62 feet with a draft of 5'4".

--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine Project Receives $100,000 Donation-- Part 1

From the August 5, 2017, Go Erie.com "Porcupine project infused with $100,000 donation" by Ron Leonadi.

The Bayfront Center and Larson Texts on August 4 announced a partnership to build a topsail schooner Porcupine.

Big Ideas Learning, a subsidiary of Larson Texts pledged $100,000 over the next six years to complete the Porcupine project and to provide maritime-themed math curriculum for onboard programming.

The Porcupine Project is to build a representative of a War of 1812 topsail schooner and it will be known as "The School Ship for Presque Isle Bay."

--Brock-Perry

USS Ohio and USS Somers Captured by British

AUGUST 12TH, 1814: 200 years ago.  The USS Ohio and Somers were captured by the British on Lake Erie, near Fort Erie, Upper Canada.

During the British siege of the American-occupied Fort Erie, Royal Navy Captain Alexander Dobbs, commanding seventy sailors and marines, rowed out to three U.S. armed schooners anchored near the fort.

Masquerading as supply boats, the British surprised, boarded and seized the USS Somers and Ohio, but the USS Porcupine escaped.

The vessels were renamed the Huron and Sauk when taken into British service.  Their captures were a welcome addition to the British Lake Erie fleet and it impacted American morale at Fort Erie.
This action was the last one on lake Erie for the war.

--Brock-Perry